Simple Pleasures: Going Up North

Wildflowers picked from the ditches beside the dirt road leading to the cabin. 

Minnesotans may love summer but they love their cabins even more. Eric and I joke that we really messed up when we married one another since neither one of us has a cabin in the family. Luckily, some good friends invited us to join them up north recently.

It was an idyllic weekend on a lake with only seven homes on it. It was so quiet that when a car pulled up across the way, you could hear the gravel crunching beneath the tires. There were two loons nesting on the lake, and they had a tiny baby just a week old. Stasha and I stole across the glassy water in a canoe and got close enough to see the mother's ox blood red eyes.

On the drive up, we stopped at Lavaliers farm and picked hundreds of strawberries that were shiny jewels of perfect juice. Our fingers and mouths were stained pink all weekend. We cooked some incredible meals- is there anything more summery than grilled sweet corn, burgers and watermelon?

We slept underneath taxidermy dear heads in a genuine log cabin that has been in her family for three generations. In fact, her grandfather told us that he first visited when he was just a few weeks old. There were no passable roads to the lake, so the only way in was by canoe, and that very canoe served as his crib that first summer.

Besides the complete stillness, the lovely company, and jumping off the dock into the icy cold water, I loved picking wildflowers with my friend. The boys joined us and we all picked tiny, delicious wild raspberries. We had fun turning the flowers into arrangements in whatever containers we could find in her grandmother's cupboards, jelly jars, bowls and an old tin camp cup.

After two days of slow and quiet, it felt so good to get back to my life in the city. I can see the magic of a going up north- it's just far enough that your mind can get quiet and not long enough to set your expectations impossibly high like you would with a vacation in the Carribean. And going up north isn't necessarily about packing in a million adrenaline packed highs- it's more about slowing down and appreciating what's already there; people you love, the beauty of the natural world and the way even mundane tasks can be pleasurable when you aren't rushing.

What has rejuvenated you this summer? Have you taken time for a vacation?

I filled an old tin camp cup with odds and ends found in the woods. 

Before & After: Bistro Chairs

Before: Our patio table was cheap and dated looking, and the grill was hogging up a lot of extra room. 

Minnesotans cherish their summertime. With the winters we endure here, being outside in pleasant weather takes on a religious fervor. Living in the city means we have to maximize every inch of available outdoor space, since we don't have a large yard. This patio is a shared space, regularly used by most of the residents in our building.

We've been revamping this outdoor room since we moved in two years ago, living with it and making adjustments as we thought of them or could afford it. We replaced a glaring overhead light with softly glowing cafe lights using a lightbulb outlet converter to avoid hiring an electrician to rewire our 120 year old house. I planted herbs in the window boxes and switched out a tired, not-so-white-anymore rug for a more durable black one to handle the heavy traffic of the front entrance. I also rehabbed the mailboxes with chalkboard paint, a great move for an apartment building where the names on the boxes change frequently.

The final touch was replacing this ghastly patio table and chairs, that's been around the place for more than ten years. I hated the cheap looking plastic chairs, and the umbrella hole in a table sitting on a covered porch. We also added a grill to the set up, but it all felt quite tight and constricted.

I found a few patio ideas I liked online at Target and World Market, but I felt they were overpriced for their quality, style and durability. I needed a round table that could comfortably seat four. I decided to see what I could find locally.

Before: We purchased 10 of these bistro chairs
on Craigslist for $70. 

We found a lovely wicker table with a heavy glass top on Craigslist that looked right at home outside. We found the chairs separately, though they needed some serious rehabbing. They were rusty and the seats needed cushions to make them comfortable enough for daily use. However, the shape was just what I was looking for, and I felt up to a little elbow grease. Poor Eric got suckered in too.

He kindly and dutifully scrubbed down all ten chairs with sandpaper and steel wool. Then he coated
the chairs with  Rustoleum spray-paint in Soft Iron. He also found replacement chair feet to keep them from scratching up the deck.

Next, I went over to S.R. Harris to pick up cushion foam and upholstery fabric. I painstakingly traced the wooden seats onto the foam, and cut it out. I used the seat as a pattern for the fabric too, adding four inches to the perimeter of the circle to allow it to comfortably cover the seat. I used a staple gun to cover the cushions, and Eric screwed them back in.

We also moved the grill to a smaller, unused nook on the other side of the patio which opened up a lot of space and helped it all to feel much more relaxed and inviting. The grill is getting more play too, since it's far easier to cook without bumping into the table and chairs. As a final touch, I've been toying with an indoor outdoor rug under the eating area, but I think there is just too much dust and debris to keep it looking great.

After: Painstaking Sanding, Spraypainting and reupholstering gave us a pretty new look. 

I'm pretty delighted with the results of all the tinkering. I think it looks far more polished and airy and I like the way the new furniture complements the iron railings and accents the orange red shades of the bricks. We've been spending lots of time out here already, and the new look feels much more inviting to me.

Do you have any "outdoor rooms" at your place? What have you done to make them more user friendly? If you have mosquito prevention tricks, I'd love to hear them!

How to Choose a Yoga Studio

"Shoulder Stand" Original Drawing by Becky Kazana. Please do no reproduce without permission.  

Finding the right yoga studio is like choosing a church. You are looking for something intangible, a mood, a vibe. All of these places are pretty similar; usually clean, bare rooms with polished wood floors, maybe a wall of mirrors, maybe plants, maybe candles, maybe a singing bowl. Some use music, some don't. Some are hot, some warm, some cool. The teachers are important, but you will learn something from every person you take class with. The style of yoga is part of it- but you will learn something from every practice, from Hatha to Bikram.

Since arriving in Minneapolis, I'd gone the Groupon route, trying out Heat Yoga, Core Power, Minnehaha Yoga, Your Yoga, and Yoga Studio. I've barely scratched the surface of studios in my area- there is Life Power, Iyengar Yoga and a Bikram studio, all within easy walking distance of my apartment.

So far, One Yoga has definitely been my favorite. They offer a wide variety of classes in many styles, almost every hour, so there is always a class that is convenient. But the intangible something is in the air. Bold letters on the door announce "YOU ARE ENTERING A CALM PLACE." and it's true. You can feel it when you walk in. The rush and bustle drain away as you pull off your wet boots and hang your coat on a peg, find a spot to unfurl your mat and go inward, slowly and deeply.

During practice recently, I had an idea to make this drawing. I love looking at my legs and feet in shoulder stand- they always look so tiny and far off up there, and it's nice to send all the blood flowing in the opposite direction from feet to head for a change. I often have a dream that I am looking at my hands, feet or body from a distance as they slowly swell gigantic and then shrink back down to teeny tiny, and somehow this pose reminds me of that. Everything in your life is a matter of perspective, plain and simple.

Do you practice yoga? What's your favorite pose right now? What do you look for in a teacher? A studio? Do tell!

Soaking in Winter with Old Friends

Soaking in Winter original illustration by Becky Kazana. Email me to purchase. Do not reproduce without permission. 

A few weeks back, Prem invited us for roll your own sushi night- we had fun making rice, chopping fish, frying tempura, making a huge mess in the kitchen and getting full of tastes of this and that long before we ever sat down at the table to eat properly.

Afterwards, we went out into the moonlit snow, bravely stripped down to our swimsuits in the freezing air and climbed into the steaming hot tub.We four sat there talking about nothing, huddled close together, knees and feet bumping into each other from time to time in a kind of intimacy that is rare in my life here. It comes in part from having grown up together, then watching each other's lives unfold from afar. I know and love these people, and have for a long time.

The tub overlooks a pond on a golf course, frozen solid, lined with bare trees silhouetted against the clouded sky, perfectly still. For a moment, the moon passed out from under the clouds, glowing white, round and huge through the veils of cloud and we all looked up at it in silence. There was the gurgling of the water around us, the crackle and ping of the ice, the gentle flutter of the snow settling over the ground and steam rising up around our faces, turned up towards the sky.

Minnesota Winter Must: Sorel Boots

"There is no bad weather, only bad clothes." -Scandinavian Proverb

For a few weeks, I tried to make do with second hand boots in a Minnesota winter. Two sizes too big meant swinging them along like leaden anchors and my hips quickly felt the toll. Wearing ordinary shoes is a terrible option as well, leaving your socks soaked and toes instantly turned icy, red and numb.

I decided to invest in a pair of Sorel boots. Thanks to a coupon code from Piperlime, I paid $75 for them. What a wonderful pleasure my walk to work has become! If it's snow and ice, the grippers dig in and give me sure footing. If it's slush and puddles, my feet arrive at their destination dry and toasty.

Though these boots aren't exactly fashion forward, they have the sort of ugly cute quality that seems to be in vogue right now, and have the added benefit of being enormously practical. (How I pity the fools I see in their tennis shoes or ballet flats full of ice!) Between the right gear, the necessity of a daily walk and my strict policy of not complaining, my time outside each day has become a true joy. I look forward to my walk, knowing it will clear my head, invigorate my body and connect me with this place I call home.

P.S) This original illustration is available for $20 if you're having a love affair with galoshes as well! It will easily fit in a standard 8x10 frame. Email me at thefabulousmissbATgmailDOTcom if you'd like to purchase it for your house!

How Not to Complain About the Weather; A Handy Thesaurus for Thriving in a Minnesota Winter

Late Fall by Matte Art on Etsy 

Obviously, the hardest part about moving from Hawaii to Minnesota is the change in weather. I've learned a lot about how your attitude affects your experience, and I am taking a solemn vow not to complain about the coming winter. Eric and I had a good laugh yesterday as we discussed just exactly what words are allowed, because obviously, one still needs to describe the weather and frankly, it's already pretty cold. The point is just to withhold judgement of it. This is a great exercise because we can't change it anyway, so it's best not to fight it.

Here are some words to describe cool weather without grumbling:

Brisk
Crisp
Nippy
Zippy
Invigorating!
Zesty

We discovered that words used in gum, mint, mouthwash and toothpaste advertisements are also useful. For example:

Minty
Zingy
Fresh
Clean
Sparkling
Dazzling
Glittery

What would you add to our list? It's not quite winter here yet, and there are some beautiful fall colors on the trees. Our new attic apartment sits right at the tree line and so all our windows are filled with the rustling of vividly glowing lemon yellow leaves. I'm going to enjoy each one until the snowflakes fly.

Apple Picking Attempted

If the blog is feeling a little woefully untended lately, it's due to all the fun we've been planning and having here in beautiful Minnesota. I am savoring all the beautiful colors, textures and flavors of fall. We took a visit to Apple Jack apple orchards when we first arrived with some of the Nelson ladies, including my charming nieces, Delaney (almost 1 year!) and Margaret (almost 3!).

The pick your own apple orchard had already been ravaged by the hoards when we got there, but Margaret and I went in search of them anyway. We called out "Apples, Apples, Where Arrrrre Yooooou?" but when none appeared, Margaret sagely said, "They don't want us to find them 'cause they know we want to eat them up!" Words of wisdom. We enjoyed watching several rounds of rotten apples being blasted out of the apple cannon instead, then retired to the cafe for some caramel apple sundaes. (Holy smokes, there is nothing quite like a crisp, tart, Haralson apple right from the tree, is there?)

What does fall look like in your neighborhood?

Meeting Delaney!

We are in MN for a few days before we head back to Hawaii, and I've still got lots to share about Vienna, but I couldn't resist sharing this shot. We were so delighted to meet little Delaney at long last. Brent & Alison are very lucky folks to have such a cheerful, adorable little gal, don't you think?

More Humble Humor: Walleye Mailbox

In reply to my post about the Marlin mailbox in my neighborhood, my mum sent along this photo of a Walleye mailbox in hers. It doesn't get more Minnesotan than that, dontchya know! Send me your funny mailboxes too- I'd love to share 'em!

The Ten Dollar Bicycle Revealed!

Remember The Ten Dollar Bicycle? Well it's finally back in fighting trim! Thank you Grandpa! I had such fun polishing her up with you!

Summer in My Neighborhood.

I've been taking daily walks in the neighborhood around my Mum's house. The other day I brought along my camera so I could share some of the lovely things I admire along the way.

Of course there are lots of things I couldn't or didn't photograph- cars and pavement, barking dogs, big tufts of cottonwood seeds floating lazily through the air, sprinklers and the whir of lawn mowers, babies in strollers and the sounds of their siblings playing tag in the yard. Summer in the suburbs can be quite idyllic. Here's what mine looks like this year:










What does summer look like where you are?

Ice Skating Fun!

This is a greatly belated post, but we had so much fun ice skating with Katie and Lou while we were back in the frosty north for Christmas I just had to share. See the rest of our photos right here. What are you doing for fun this winter?

A Showering Sucess

The green baby shower was a smashing success. See more images from the shower here, and if you have others to add, please e-mail me (thefabulousmissb(at)gmail.com)!



Sarah and I hit the Minneapolis Farmers Market for these gorgeous blooms. Zinnias, lavender, sunflowers, thistles and snapdragons- all for twenty bucks. We filled ordinary terracotta pots with floral foam, soaked them in the kitchen sink for about 45 minutes and arranged the blooms that way, with a few hosta leaves from the backyard. We watered them again the morning of the shower so they would look fresh.



Katie and Lou arrived early to help decorate and set up. (Lou's umbrella just happened to go with everything perfectly!)



Eric tries to figure out paper lantern assembly...My mom had quite a stash of Chinese lanterns, kites and fun paper daisies- aside from the fresh flowers I didn't buy any decorations at all.




The lady of the hour shows off her hint of a bump. She's definitely got the glow!



My talented mother planned the menu. We had a glamorous Sweet Potato and Spinach Salad, Alphabet Pasta Salad (this link isn't quite the same version we did, but the Alphabet pasta looked so sweet for a baby shower. Add some veggies to the version I linked to), a cheese plate a la Katie, shrimp cocktail and a Bean Salad. For dessert we had Lemon Cupcakes (sour cream is the secret to the moist, flavorful cake), White Chocolate Pretzels(in a fit of inspiration Sarah and I added white sprinkles and they looked like really baby rattles without being too literal) Key Lime Pie topped with fresh whipped cream and raspberries, Almond Pound Cake and my famous Coconut Macaroons. We poured home made lemonade, iced tea and Martha, (the grandma to be!) donated her wonderful wine collection from Sarah's favorite Oregon vineyard, Sweet Cheeks which ensured that everyone had a lovely afternoon.



Sarah's beloved dog Bishop got into the spirit of the day too- after lunch, with much coaxing, he jumped into the pool to cool off. Lou was madly in love with him.



Sarah's friends Lori and Abigail drove all the way from Eau Claire Wisconsin to celebrate with us.



Amy sent a selection of her gorgeous new hand-painted organic baby clothes all the way from Hong Kong. (The new line is called "GreenSeam" and its right up Sarah's alley.)You should have heard the squeals of delight!



Sarah's dear friend Jen (who also drove in from Wisconsin for the occasion) made this adorable Veggie Blanket. The gifts were all so thoughtfully chosen; many of them handmade. I know Sarah and Baby felt honored and loved.

A Peek into Ellis Island

Last week Sarah and I paid a visit to the Minnesota Historical Society to check out their exhibit of photographs from Ellis Island. Augustus Frederick Sherman was a humble clerk, but when new arrivals were detained for further questioning, he often made photographs of them. The results are a stunning cross section of people who came to this country in search of a better life.

I was taken with the details of their clothing, at a time when every garment was made by hand by someone you knew. Silver bullets sewn into the costumes of the Cossack soldiers, their heads adorned with wooly caps. Protestant Finnish women in elaborate wimples seeking religious freedom away from their Catholic homeland. A gentleman decked out in lederhosen complete with woolen socks, a jaunty hat and beautifully embroidered vest.

The exhibit was small and very little is known about most of those pictured. That lent an air of intrigue and possibility. I found myself wondering what these people were thinking on the day they arrived here- exhausted from an agonizing sea voyage that probably took months.

For many, the stop at Ellis Island marked only a halfway point in the journey as they carried farther west. (This certainly makes me re-consider my moaning and groaning about flying coach!) Since those in these portraits were detained for further questioning, anxiety and worry are apparent.

I was also struck by the individuality of each portrait. Each person brought a unique experience with which to forge a new identity for themselves in a strange land. Our is truly a nation of disparate people drawn together by freedom. I think we can all use reminders of that.